Transcript PTA 221 - Mercer County Community College

PTA 221
Finding & Using PT Information
Martin J. Crabtree
MCCC Library
Agenda
• Resources at the MCCC library
• Electronic Searching Basics
– Keywords & Boolean Searching
• Electronic Databases at Mercer
– What’s a database?
– Databases suited for physical
therapy research
– Accessing the databases
• Web Information
– The Invisible Web
– Evaluating what you find
Resources at the MCCC Library
• The library has a number of resources in many formats
(books, periodicals, videos, music, and more).
• The catalog is available online (Periodicals are not listed
in the catalog).
• You will find items in both the college’s and Mercer
County Public (MCL) libraries.
The link to the catalog is on the
library’s web pages.
PT materials at the MCCC library
• MCCC like most colleges and universities uses
the Library of Congress (LC) system for
shelving books.
• PT books can generally be found in the
RM676 – RM950 section.
• Periodicals it MCCC include:
– Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical
Therapy
– Journal of Physical Therapy Education
– Physical Therapy
Searching Electronic
Databases
…and the World Wide Web too
Starting An Electronic Search
Keywords
• Keywords are used when searching electronic
databases and web search engines
• First step - Generate a list of words (keywords) that
describes or is commonly used when discussing your
topic. For example:
– Shoulder
– Rotator
– Cuff
– Treatment
– Children
Starting An Electronic Search
Boolean Searching/Logic
• Boolean searching - Connecting
keywords with the terms
– and
– not
– or
• For example
– eagles NOT football
– (car or automobile) and exhaust
• More Terms = Fewer “Hits”
Searching More Than Just Keywords
Phrases & Truncations
• To search for a phrase, use quotation
marks
– “rotator cuff” or “physical therapy”
• Truncations allow for searching related
words all at once
– The * is usually used. For example:
• “child*” would include: child, children, childhood,
childproof, etc.
Electronic Databases at the
Mercer Library
What are electronic databases?
• A collection of electronically searchable
information (frequently, but not limited
to, periodical articles) that is accessible
via the internet
• Access to this information is by
subscription only, paid by the library.
• It is accessible via the internet, but it is
not truly web information.
Electronic Databases
In General
• Over 40 databases available
• Not every article is available full text
though many are
• Abstracts (summary) is often available
when full text is not
Electronic Databases - In General
• Accessible at any computer on
the MCCC/JKC campus network
• Most are available off campus,
need to request a password.
• Can print/e-mail/download
articles
Where’s the Physical Therapy
Stuff?
• Health Source – Nursing Academic Edition
(EBSCOhost)
– Covers not only nursing but also number other
medical disciplines including PT.
– Contains a number of full-text scholarly periodicals.
• CINAHL
– One of the largest databases of nursing and related
health (like PT) information
– Though some full-text journal articles are available,
many articles are abstract only.
– CINAHL = Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied
Health Literature
Searching the World Wide Web
and Evaluating What You Find
Brought to you by…
&
Searching the World Wide
Web
How can I find what I want?
Searching the World Wide
Web
• Everything is NOT on the web and may never
be
• No search engine covers the entire web
• The “invisible web” is huge!
• Though there has yet to be consensus,
estimates put the size of the invisible web
between 2 and 500 times bigger than the
“visible” (or surface) web.
Searching the World Wide Web
Search Strategy
• Searching the Web is much like database searching:
– Put together a list of terms (keywords)
– Use Boolean logic (and, not, or) to better define your
search
– Use the search engine’s “advanced search” to select
limiting parameters (language, date, domain, etc.)
• Meta sites like Dogpile and Ask Jeeves use multiple
search engines.
– Generates more “stuff” to sift through
– Some results may be from “paid for listing” search
engines
The Invisible Web
Why is so much being missed?
• When using a search engine, you are actually
searching a database that represents what is
known to be on the web
• Spiders or crawlers roam the web from link to
link generating this database
• Works extremely well for static all text
pages in the HTML language
• The problem arises when pages are ever
changing or not in HTML
The Invisible Web
So where is all of this stuff hiding?
• By far, a great amount is contained in
databases (both paid and free)
• Other places include:
– Non-text information such as photos or
audio
– PDF formatted documents
– Very new web pages
– Password only access information
The Invisible Web
Finding the invisible stuff
• The key is knowing when you need
“invisible” information and then where
to find it.
• Not every web search requires looking
in the invisible web.
• Search engines work best when looking
for a narrow, focused topic.
Some sources of web information
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/medlineplus.html
- MedlinePlus, medical information from the National
Institutes of Health
• www.apta.org – The American Physical Therapy
Association’s website. A great source of education,
career, and research info. Membership is required to
obtain some of the info.
• Online e-journals. Some require membership or
subscription but you can often search the indexes for
articles. Some have free full text like the Journal of
Physical Therapy Science
Is this
stuff any
good?
Evaluating Web Sites
Now Back to Our
“Sponsors”
&
Evaluating Web Sites
• Quality varies greatly from
site to site
• YOU are the sole evaluator
of the quality of information
a site provides
Five Evaluation Criteria
1.
2.
3.
4.
Accuracy - is it reliable?
Authority - is author qualified on subject?
Objectivity - is the information biased?
Currency - is the information “new”
enough?
5. Coverage - does the info completely cover
the topic?
Evaluating Web Sites
• Search engines may put you out of
context, go the home page to help
evaluate the site
• A web site page will include
contact information such as phone
numbers and street addresses (not
just an e-mail address)
• Look for the “about us” page for
more about who is responsible for
the website and it’s contents
Site Extensions
The extension can help evaluate information
• .gov - Governmental sites
• .edu - Educational institution sites
• .com - Commercial sites
• .org - Not for profit organization sites
• .mil - Military sites
• Others are being creates that are less clear
cut, e.g.: .net or .co.uk
Other Considerations
• Watch out for information that is
positioned to sell you something.
• Altered web pages (either by accident
or maliciously)
• Links to other web sites DOES NOT
necessarily mean that the site is
credible. Evaluate each site separately.
The Bottom Line…
Buyer Beware
• The web contains a vast amount of
information…but not everything
• Anyone can put information on the web, hence the
quality of web information varies greatly
• YOU will often be the only person to decide if
the quality of the info you find on the web is good
Now let’s visit a site…